Luke 22:31-22:71

Read along as Matthew guides us through the Gospel of Luke. In these verses, Jesus is finishing his conversation with the disciples at "The Last Supper," then he goes out to pray on the Mount of Olives. While praying in the middle of the night, Judas arrives and betrays him. Jesus is arrested while "darkness reigns." When they take him away, Peter follows at a distance. Peter disowns, denies, his allegiance to Jesus, a signal that humanity--even the best of us--are failing God in this dark hour. Guards mock him. The elders, chief priests and teachers put him on trial. 

To be continued...

Matthew Schmidt is the pastor of St. Paul's United Church of Christ, located in the beautiful small town of Grand Haven, MI. Discover more about St. Paul's today. www.stpaulsgrandhaven.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, friends, welcome to Bible study this morning. We are reading the Gospel of Luke. We're in chapter 22, starting in verse 31 today, and we are right kind of in the middle of the Last Supper scene. Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and said to them, This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. He takes the cup. The cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Hmm. A dispute rises among the disciples about who will be the greatest, because they think in human terms, like we all do so often. And uh and that's what Jesus is is gonna deal with here. Um these disciples and the reaction to what they can sense might be the beginning of the end, or the the something big is happening, Passover is here, who's great, what's going down, they can feel it, and uh, and they don't quite know what to do. Let's pray and then we'll start reading in verse 31. Dear God, we thank you for the chance to read together your word and to prayerfully consider all the wisdom and the grace and the goodness that you might have for us today in the in the hearing of these words. We pray that you would by your spirit cause the scriptures to come alive in our hearts, so that we might be shaped by your love and renewed in our hope and our faith. Amen. So Jesus tells his disciples that they'll have some kind of a judgment role sitting on thrones in his kingdom. And uh and of course, thrones and seats of judgment can't be defined without having Jesus first define what judgment looks like and uh and what power in a throne might look like. Of course, Jesus is going to go to the cross as the seat of judgment, and he's going to go to the cross as his throne. Verse 31. Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. There's more at stake going on here than just the Roman Empire is oppressing the Jewish people, and the Jewish people are longing for a liberator. That's that's part of what's going on, but but Jesus is aware of an entirely alternate reality, that there are principalities and powers behind the powers that we see in this world. That, you know, what it what if the evil Roman Empire is particularly evil because there's a force like Satan behind it? You know, what what if the church is particularly good because there's a force like God behind it? And what if the church is led astray and there's a powerful force behind it that's not that of God? Principalities and powers. So Jesus is aware of this. He lives his life fully in tune with God's realm, with all the realms, and uh and he's teaching this to Simon. Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. What does that mean to sift you as wheat? Separating the seed from the chaff, yeah. Sift out the bad wheat or the bad parts of the wheat, save the kernels. Some people they view the judgment of God as a negative thing in in the Bible, and Jesus lives with an awareness that judgment actually brings about justice and goodness. Uh you could call it a purifying fire, you know, a fire that takes out the imperfections so that something like pure gold can emerge. For wheat, there's another metaphor, sh sifting off the sh the chaff so that you can actually have kernels of wheat to do something with.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Right.

unknown 5:11

They wouldn't understand.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

We were at the ice cream store this past weekend, and the ice cream shop put a little maraschino cherry on top of my Sunday, and I didn't want it, and I gave it to Eleanor. And Eleanor's never had a cherry like that before, and she took it and she said, Does it have a pit? And I said, No, it does not. And she said, Well, don't cherries have pits? Who took the pit out? You know, somebody took it out. Somebody removed a portion of this fruit so that you, as a kid, can eat it and delight in it and not worry about the pit. Are there parts of our lives that need to get tossed out? Are there parts of our lives that need to be purified? Are there parts of our lives that need to be removed? Do we have any chaff clinging to us? Some people today want to say, no. Sin? No, that's not a thing. I'm I'm perfectly loved as I am. And I would like to just offer a more nuanced biblical take on what humanity is, which is yes, we bear the image of God. Yes, we are broken by sin. Yes, we are a hodgepodge of misfit and beauty. And God's judgment, it feels terrifying, it feels kind of scary, but it might end up being a good thing, where some bits and pieces of us that are imperfect fall away. That can be painful, but the goodness, the true self, emerges. Verse 32, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. So Simon is gonna be shaken, and and Jesus is saying to Simon, Look, you're gonna, he he knows you're gonna do something bad. And I'm gonna pray that when you realize how what you did that is so terrible, the one thing that doesn't get shaken off from yourself is your faith. Simon's gonna need his faith. Faith that Jesus forgives him for the bad thing he's about to do and then later regrets. Faith that he is the beloved child of God, even though he denied God, right? Jesus is gonna pray that Simon's faith remains. Yeah. So that when you turn back, you can strengthen your brothers. But he replied, Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death. Simon doesn't understand what Jesus is saying. He doesn't know that he's gonna deny Jesus. He thinks he's going to be rigidly faithful. I already got the faith. I'm ready to go all the way. But the faith that Jesus will pray for for Simon is not the faith that Simon will charge headstrong into the wind with Jesus. It will be the faith to trust that he is forgiven and redeemed after he makes a mistake. You think about all the times that Jesus speaks about faith in Scripture. Often it is faith in trusting that God's love is real. You know, trusting that you don't need to be defined by your mistakes anymore. There's often metaphors of with faith you can move mountains, but but we misinterpret those metaphors to think if we just believe enough, we'll do big awesome stuff. But the real big awesome stuff is having the courage to turn back, to say, I'm sorry, to not hold a grudge, to let it go, to return to the flock, to return to the fold, and know that your enemy is loved and you are loved, and all is okay, and God, Christ, died for every single one of us. Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death. Jesus answered him, I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you even know me. Then Jesus asked them, When I sent you without purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything? Nothing, they answered. He's talking about when he sent them out to do evangelism, to share the good news of the kingdom, that the kingdom of God is near. But when you go, don't bring your purse, don't bring your sandals or bag. You're not in this to gain for yourself, you're in this to spread the radical kingdom message of Jesus Christ. Did you lack anything? he asks. Nothing, they answered. Verse thirty six. He said to them, But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag, and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment. Where we're going is different than where we've been. That's what he's saying. I've sent you out before, in a certain way. Well, everything's about to change. The entire world is going to end. And so the stakes are different, the requirements are different, what faith looks like is different. Jesus is going to take upon himself the judgment of God and the judgment of the world. And he's going to let that judgment crush him. He's going to let evil roar the loudest it's ever roared. He's going to let the world collapse all on his shoulders. And what's going to emerge from that is some real good kernels of wheat, is some real pure gold. What's going to emerge from that, the resurrected Jesus will be the inauguration of the new creation. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment. The disciple said, See, Lord, here are two swords. That's enough, he replied. It was a metaphor. Okay, that's enough. You don't really need to arm yourself. What I'm saying is the world is ending and the stakes are higher. You don't actually have to go out and buy 150 swords. That's not the point. Jesus went out, as usual, to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. So this whole Last Supper scene has taken place in the city of Jerusalem and in an upper room. And now he's going to go out into the streets of the city. I imagine it's the cool evening air. They're going to cross, maybe under the beautiful gate, head out across the Kidron Valley, hike down, and then hike back up to the Mount of Olives, a garden, literally of olive trees. And he likes to go there to pray. So he went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, Pray that you will not fall into temptation. Why is he praying that they may not fall into temptation? Because the stakes are so high. And if they have any sliver of misunderstanding or lack of trust, Satan is right here in this scene. This is the big play. If Jesus was tempted at the beginning of his ministry in the wilderness, no, this is actually the big, big temptation. Will Jesus trust God? Or will Jesus take matters into his own powerful hands? Will his disciples trust Jesus? Or will they take matters into their own not quite so powerful, but we gotta try something. I mean, the world is ending. Come on, build a bunker at least. Buy a hundred swords. This is the end. Pray with me, pray that you will not fall into temptation. Verse 41. He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will but yours be done. I mean that prayer is so honest. You want to see Jesus' humanity, it's right here. And you want to see perfect faith, it's right here. Perfect faith is not the absence of that first claw clause. God, I don't want to do this right now. God, I can't handle this right now. God, take this cup away from me, please. That begging is not lack of faith.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

That's honesty.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

And then the pure faith is yet your will be done, not mine. What is Jesus asking for when he says that first class take this cup from me?

SPEAKER_02 15:34

What is he asking for?

SPEAKER_01 15:37

God, take this cup from me. He doesn't want to go and die. He doesn't want the wrath of the whole wheat all the judgment to fall on him. He doesn't want Satan to roar and the empire to flex. He doesn't want the darkness to swallow him up. Who d who would? It's terrifying. He's more scared than a kid before a spelling bee, you know? God, I don't want to take this test. Yeah. You don't think he's felt pain?

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

He's part of this is he knows he's gonna die, and he knows he's gonna die a very physical, painful death. Yeah. This is gonna be ugly. Not fun. Yeah. So suffering, burden, death, pain, it's all God take this cup from me. Now, of course, here's just the beauty of the paradox of the gospel. The scene starts at the Last Supper, and he hands the cup to his disciples, and he says, What? Take this cup from me. You know, and so Jesus is handing to us this is the cup of the new covenant established in my blood. And then he goes and he's praying, God, I know I'm about to drink a cup. And somehow, and this is like this is the mystery of the gospel, when Jesus drinks the cup of wrath and then hands the cup to us, it is no longer wrath. It is no longer poison, it is the new reality established in his broken body. It is nourishment for your soul, it is the holy feast of the Lord. This is gospel, this is good news. This is uh Tolkien would call this eukatastrophe, where the catastrophe is happening, and yet the story ends well and happy and good. Jesus is praying, Father, take this cup from me, and then he practices perfect faith, yet not my will but yours be done. And you can feel the agony in the scene and the fear and the darkness. Verse forty three An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. Why are you sleeping? he asked them. Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. What an odd detail to add to this story. Jesus is praying in anguish, so fervently, his sweat is like is turning to blood, and he goes back to his disciples and they're snoring. Oh, they're exhausted from their sorrow, but they're just sleeping like babies. What why add a scene? Like, why add that detail? What is why would Luke be like, you know what? The people in 2026 need to know. They need to know that when Jesus was praying, his disciples were sleeping. It's kind of the inverse of the boat scene, isn't it? Again, we've got these inversions of these scenes. This is the gospel. The people are sleeping while God is doing the most horrendous and beautiful thing. Why? Why are we asleep while Jesus is going through this? It's almost like we don't even have the capacity to understand what it is that Jesus is doing, the darkness he'll be heading into, the wrath that he's going to endure, the pain that he's going to suffer. And so we we go comatose. We numb out, we fall asleep, can't handle it, so we avoid it. Peter was like, Yeah, I'm gonna get arrested with you. I'm gonna I'm gonna be with you. And now Peter is snoozing. He can't even go and pray about it, you know. They don't understand. We don't understand. We'll try. They tried. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's an escape. It's it's numbing the pain. I think that's part of what they're doing. We can only handle so much. We cannot handle what Jesus is doing for us. We cannot. Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Again, there's that temptation when we're suffering, when the world is broken, when evil is roaring, we are tempted to try to fix, to try to solve, to try to numb, to try to escape. We fight or we flight or we freeze. That's that reptilian brain. And Jesus is enduring, and Jesus is suffering, and Jesus is going to be victorious. While he was still speaking, a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the twelve. Was leading them. How alarming, right? I mean, like just Jesus is praying in agony. He's in this beautiful garden. And really, we have to bring ourselves all the way back to the Garden of Eden. He's in this beautiful, Edenic type garden where humanity and God have inverted each other, where God is the one suffering, and humanity is the one pursuing God, but pursuing God in all the inverted ways. Everything is coming together in these scenes. All of Scripture is being fulfilled and transformed. Here comes Judas, one of the twelve, leading a crowd. He approached Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus asked him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? I mean, again, just the inversion. What is a kiss? I mean, a kiss is about as intimate as you can get. You think about kissing your beloved, you kiss about uh you think about giving your your children a kiss, or your child giving you a kiss. I mean, a kiss is just so tender and so it's it's kind of like humanity's version of being really, really, really nice to each other. It's kind of the best we got. Yeah, it really is. And Judas is betraying the son of man with a kiss. Again, the best of who we could be is operating on its worst level. When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, Lord, should we strike with our swords? We've got two of them, right? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. I mean, this is the moment, right? We've got to fight. Jesus is asking them to pray that they won't be tempted, and they're already failing. They are tempted to flex and fight, and later tempted to run. One of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, No more of this, and he touched the man's ear and healed him. I mean, how beautiful. These people are here to kill the Son of Man. And the Son of Man is saying to the people on his team, put your swords away, and saying to the enemy, Come here, let me heal you. Jesus is incredible. He's just doing the things we actually need for a God to do. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come for him, Am I leading a rebellion that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts. You did not lay a hand on me, but this is your hour when darkness reigns. What does it look like for darkness to reign? What's happening here? How deep is the corruption? It's all encompassing. Why does the temple even have a guard? Right? Why the temple has their own army? You know, the Pope has his own army, right? Like, why is that? Why do we have it could the disciples be so foolish to think that Jesus is asking for them to become exactly what the temple has? A temple guard, a Jesus guard? I mean, could we be so idio I mean the corruption is so deep, the institutions are so corrupt, but so are the individuals. Even the closest followers of Jesus are corrupt. We just can't figure it out. Heal each other instead of cut each other off. Kiss each other for the right reasons, not the wrong reasons. This is your hour when darkness reigns. Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Why do they seize him on the Mount of Olives? And why did they not seize him every day when he was teaching in the temple?

SPEAKER_04 26:49

They're you know, people under the temple authority.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Exactly. He's alone right now. When when when the Bible says that a crowd came up with Judas leading them, this is not a crowd like what is at the temple courts. At the temple courts, you could fit 10,000 people in that crowd. I mean, it's like it would be like game day in Ann Arbor, just flooded with people, people who are super aware of who's in charge and what's what, people who are just visitors and out-of-towners, people who are there to just eat some kebab. You know, it would just be so many people. And and if you arrest Jesus in that public of a sphere, then you lose the public, you know, the public that loves Jesus will be like, What are you doing? This guy is a he's he's just he's just talking, he's being peaceful. Why are you roughing him up? You do it at night with just your people there, and you can drive the narrative. You you can say what really happened. Now you've even got a wounded person to say that Jesus fought back. Right? What what will they be able to say when the servant has an ear that's got a stab wound? You know, maybe the ear's been put back on, but he's still got a scar, and they can say they drew swords. They fought back, they they deserved this. They attacked. Yeah. They could say whatever they want with if they do it at night. That's what it means when darkness reigns. When darkness rains, I'm saying the corruption is so deep that not just the individuals are corrupt, but the story itself is corrupt. That the truth itself is lost. And it's just so multi-layered, no one can even know what's real anymore. Seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Again, now they're gonna be able to meet behind closed doors. The high priest gets to choose who's in the room when they put him on trial. And it's gonna be a trial that's taking place. What time is it right now? 12 35 in the morning? Maybe not even. It might be 11 30. Like it's just it is not regular business hours. The court should not be open at this time. Peter followed at a distance. Will Peter be brave? Will Peter go to prison with Jesus? Will Peter do the right thing and say, That man, I love him, I'm with him, I am a follower of him, I believe his way is the way. Verse 55, and when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard, this is the courtyard right outside the high priest's house, and had sat down together. Peter sat down with them. So he stops. He doesn't try to go all the way in, he stops in the courtyard and he settles down. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, This man was with him. Who does she say that to? Other people who are around. There's probably some temple soldiers there. There's probably some lower level priests hanging out, maybe a couple other servants or servants of priests. There's there's people who are all on team high priest, right? And he she's accusing him. Pray that you will not be tempted. What will he be tempted to do when she says he is one of them? Tempted to lie, tempted to protect his own skin, to save himself. He denied it. Woman, I don't know him, he said. A little later, someone else saw him and said, You also are one of them. Man, I am not, Peter replied. This is what I love about the Bible. Think about what Peter is saying here. There is this in the very beginning, in the garden, God creates humankind in God's image. Humankind, man and woman, Adam and Eve belong to God. We are creatures that are especially near to the heart of God, bearing God's image. And yet we belong to God, belong to the author who wrote our story, to the to the potter who shaped our bodies out of clay, to the divine breath that flows in our lungs. We belong to this God. And and humanity, from the very beginning, would like to not be beholden to God. That's the original sin. To be like God and not be beholden to God, to be similar to the gods and also pave our own path. I mean, the phrase like man, I am not. That translation is pretty awesome. Because Peter is saying I'm not a true man. I'm not a true man because I can't admit that I'm beholden to my creator. He, like Adam, isn't a true man. Man, I am not a follower of Jesus. Really? Then who are you following? Where are you going? What is your purpose? About an hour later, another asserted, certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean. Here's a reminder Peter is not from Judea. He's not a good southern boy. He's a northerner, right? He's from Galilee. He's got that fisherman's dialect, you know, those Boston boys who work out on the Haba. He talks like that. He does not talk like a boy from South Carolina, right? So they know you're from Galilee. Why else would you be we have seen you with him? He too is from Galilee, like this all fits. And Peter replied, Man, I don't know what you're talking about. And just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. Remember it's night time. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. Not quite sure how this scene unfolds. Did Peter get inside the house to be able to make eye contact with Jesus? Was Jesus being transferred from the house to the prison cell and they caught each other's glimpse? Somehow he gets within line of sight with Jesus. While this is happening, what is happening to Jesus? Where have they put him? What are they doing? Can we just slow down the scene? We're gonna get trial. He gets brought before people, you know, in chains and put on trial. But what are they doing with him in the meantime? So I've been to the historical site of the high priest's house, and it has a prison cell right nearby, basically right underneath it. And the prison cell, if you can imagine, is uh it's just a cave. Only the mouth of the cave is near the top. And so if you go in that cave, it's like like when I went in in that prison cell, I took a staircase all the way down of 25 stairs, a spiral staircase down to the bottom. And uh that staircase was not there 2,000 years ago. It was just a prison cell with a hole in the top where soldiers could guard you and an opening kind of on the side with a I don't know, 10-foot drop, eight-foot drop, and they'd just shove you in there, and you'd be down there in the bottom of a stone pit. And they'd haul you up with ropes, and then they'd put you back down there. I mean, Jesus is when he's praying, Father, remove this cup, he hasn't even been tortured yet, but he is wrongfully imprisoned. I mean, they know how to do it in terms of making your life miserable if you've done the wrong thing in their eyes. So he's being dragged between sleeping on the cold, dark stone floor of a cave, to being roped up back through the night into the high priest's house where they're gonna argue and debate, and powerful people are trying to put him on trial. And all of this is before he'll get transferred over into the Roman system to be put on trial before the Roman governor. This is all the Jewish high priest system. What's that? That cave is. I mean, this scene is taking a long time. He when you look at the chapters of this gospel, there are chapters devoted to this arrest and this trial and this crucifixion. Um also, he's not telling us everything, you know, because maybe not everything matters so much. He's telling us enough to have us sense the horror of it. Um the men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, Prophesy, who hit you? And they said many other insulting things to him. Why why are they so mean? I mean, they're blindfolding him. I imagine that there's a group of eight or ten people surrounding him, and somebody kicks him from behind and says, Which one of us was it? You know, he turns to face the direction where he got struck, and somebody punches him in the kidney and says, Which one of us was prophesy? Guess which one it was, buddy. Like, why are they seriously? I mean, this is just bullying. Why would they be doing this? Yeah, trying to intimidate him, or they were afraid of him, he had a big following. I mean, but they're acting like barbarians. This is inhumane. Why do why do people, when you give them a little, I mean, in this, who's got the power in this scene? They've got the power. There's a lot of them and one of him, and he's this big, powerful figure. And it's like, what do you why why do human beings want to assert their domination over other people? Not all of us want to do it in this violent of a way, but this is a thing that we see all over the world. You see gangs in third world nations roll into a town and treat people like this because they can, right? You see, you see soldiers in wars, you know. Think of the stories you've heard about World War II. Soldiers from all the armies rolling through towns, and they need a little, you know, they got that hunger. They need a little something, something, because life sucks, and they've got the power, and let me grab it. Why do we do that? It's interesting that God is willingly enduring this. That God is putting himself underneath the boot of such forms of human power. And of course, they're tempting him, prophesy, you know, use your superpowers, and uh and he's just willingly denying his power, right? This the church all through history needs to always claim this that Jesus willingly denies his own power. Uh the church forgets that sometimes. We get ourselves a little bit of a little bit of affluence and a little bit of power, and we always need to be reminded that Jesus is the owner of the restaurant, but the one wearing the servant's, you know, apron. Right. I I think that's part of the remove this cup from me. It's like, God, you you know, I could squish all these little lemmings like a bug. You want me to allow? I mean, imagine you yourself entering a video game as somebody who, you know, imagine, like, I don't know, entering Mario, and and you know that you are a human being, and Mario is just nothing. It's just a made-up cartoon character, and Mario asserts his power over you, and you, it's like, what how how am I really gonna let this thing that is a human being is a lesser form than the divine being, and yet he's willing to submit himself to the human being's will. And of course, lurking behind these human beings is a powerful force of evil. They blindfolded him and demanded, prophesy, who hit you. They said many other insulting things to him. At daybreak, so it's been a long night now. He gets arrested maybe around 11 30, midnight, 1 a.m., something like that. And it's been a long night of him getting made fun of and punched in the back and uh sleeping on a cold floor in between. At daybreak, the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together and Jesus was led before them. If you are the Messiah, tell us. Jesus answered, If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God. They all asked him, Are you then the Son of God? Do you see the interplay of these phrase these titles? Jesus is calling him. Himself, the son of man. They're asking him, Are you the son of God? Again, these paradoxes are coming to a head. They asked him, Are you the son of God? He replied, You say that I am. Then they said, Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips. Why does Jesus not say, I am the Son of God? Why doesn't he just pull off the mask and say, You got me? I'm the Prince of Peace. You know, why does he play with them? He's playing with them by calling himself son of man, by by asking a inviting a theological discussion about what the Messiah is, as opposed to just playing their game and answering their question. What's why avoid that question? Why not, when they say, Are you the son of God? say yes. Yeah, oh yeah, they would consider that blasphemy. That that's part of the charges that they're bringing against him. That's why they say, uh why do we need any more testimony? We've heard it from his own lips.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

They're saying he he gave the affirmative, but he didn't really.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

So the question of Jesus of the ambiguity I I think is is mysterious. Um I don't fully understand why. I just I think from one perspective, God is on trial before humankind here. And humankind is determining the you know, the accusation and the verdict. And I think Jesus is just submitting to what they want. But also cannot do their work for them.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

He can't he can't make it He can't sin. He can't uh perjure himself.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

Yeah. He needs he needs to let his word his words stand on their own and not say too much while he's on trial. His great preaching is earlier, his great teaching is in public. Here, I think he's sort of remaining quiet because the scene itself maybe matters more than what he would say.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

Yeah.

unknown 48:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:03

I I think so I have my feeling. Right.

unknown 48:09

Okay. There's a people that were named for so many guards know that they didn't bother to go out and non-bogs or something.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

Yeah. The other, you know, the other interesting thing about like a Jewish trial here is uh in Levitical law, when somebody is on trial, it's it's the people in town that really matter. It's the witnesses that really matter. And no conviction comes about unless two witnesses can agree about this thing that we're debating. And I think part of what is happening here is Jesus is not going to defend himself or defend his honor or give them too easy of a path forward. He's going to keep things quiet and ambiguous with the knowledge that none of his supporters are going to step forward. This is Peter and John's opportunity. Peter and John could step forward and say, two witnesses here to testify to who this man is. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary could step forward and say, This is who Jesus is. No one. No one. Maybe not.

SPEAKER_04 49:57

And only certain people were along inside, too. That's why Peter was still out in the courtyard.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Right. He's got friends in high places, though. You know, think about Nicodemus. Right? Nicodemus could step forward. There are Pharisees, so this is before the Sanhedrin. There are Pharisees that he's had dinner with, and some of those people might be sitting on. We don't know exactly who's on the Sanhedrin, but no one is stepping forward.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

So at that point, we don't need to say anything because they've got the evidence against him.

SPEAKER_01 50:39

Right. Part of what Jesus experience is it's false accusation and it's zero affirmation. It's zero support. Humanity is given the chance at the crisis moment of the world to affirm that they are beholden to this God named Jesus, and they fail. They fail on both sides.

unknown 51:09

But we're the people that they do.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Right. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. All the people that he's helped. Where's the synagogue leader whose daughter he raised from the dead? Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Right, right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

I do think the pilot scene is about as public as it gets because Pilate makes public speeches at the Passover festival and offers kind of a peace offering at that moment. And so this is that's his opportunity to release a prisoner to the crowds. Um and so I think that's a very open to the public scene. Um because Rome would want that to be readily accessible. That's their chance to like, you know, send one bad guy to the gladiators and send one bad guy back to the people. Um but yeah, I you know, it's so it's so sad that Jesus' disciples have abandoned him here. So far, this is the morning after the night he's been arrested.

SPEAKER_00 52:44

Yeah, we can get it.

SPEAKER_01 52:47

Right.

SPEAKER_04 52:54

Jesus for his day.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

Exactly. That's the temptation. The temptation is that angel who came and comforted him while he was praying in the garden, you know, that angel could show up with 10,000 buddies and kick butt. And so this temptation to solve the problem that he's in versus trusting the will of God when, you know, and here's where scholars will debate is Jesus operating from a God consciousness or a human consciousness? Does Jesus know the will of the Father? Does he know that he's gonna be okay? Or has he, has God somehow limited his consciousness so that he's enduring this as a truly faithful, fully human being? And the answer that we come up with 400 years into Christianity is basically both an impossibility, but it has to be at least fully human, because otherwise this story doesn't make sense, it doesn't do for us what we can't do for ourselves. If God who knows all things is like, yeah, this is gonna sting a little, but I'll let him bite me. No, Jesus has to not know the future in order to have this be a real thing that matters. Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah. Yep, I don't want to do this. I don't want my fully human self to go through this. That's gonna hurt a lot. Yeah. I don't want to be abandoned by my friends. I don't want, you know, to be falsely put on trial or mocked or anything. Well, friends, we are we're just at our time here, and so we'll pause right here uh at the end of chapter 22, and uh and next week we'll continue reading into Luke chapter 23. Grace and peace, everybody.